Seedy K’s GameCap: Georgia Tech

All’s well that ends well, or so it has been written.

Good enough for the eventually successful beginning of the Jeff Brohm Era as HC at his alma mammy.

Louisville 39 Georgia Tech 34.

It was Dickensian, to trot out another old shibboleth.

A Tale of Two Halves.

The Worst of Times. The Best of Times.

All that below (under the line break) was written after that seriously opening half.

Matters were somewhat different after the break. Tweaks were made. O & D did the tighten up.

Let’s start with the if not boffo, better stuff, i.e. the 2d Half:

U of L’s defense committed a couple of truly bad penalties — actually the offense did too. They could have been fatal were the guys in gold a better outfit. And were the guys in red, white and black more intent on winning.

But, for every Cardinal gaffe, there was a winning make up. Jack Plummer — more about him below — missed a wide open Nate Kurisky in the endzone. Then hit he-appears-as-good-as-his-hype Jamari Thrash on a beautiful throw (and catch) for U of L’s go ahead tally, to 29-28.

During GT’s subsequent drive, Louisville was out of position and had to waste a timeout. Followed by a holding penalty nullifying an Ashton Gillotte sack. Then a first down offsides infraction.

Yet then, then Desmond Tell makes the Defensive Play of the Game, a sack forcing a fumble.

And then, then Jawhar Jordan and the O Line make the Offensive Play of the Game, a 1st down 74 yard burst for a Cardinal cushion.

Halftime adjustments were made. From mostly Man coverage to mostly Zone coverage.

Jeff Brohm D Wizard. Who knew?

Using power backs Isaac Guerendo and Maurice Turner to pummel Tech on that opening foray after intermission. Which drive also featured a huge we’re-in-it-to-win-it-keep-the-drive-alive fourth down conversion, Plummer to Thrash for 21 yards.

QB Jack Plummer settled in, displaying poise and maturity in several key moments.

* * * * *

But here’s how I felt about how things looked during the break.

It might be hard to read into the transcribed words, what it seemed like Coach Jeff Brohm was feeling about Jack Plummer during his Game Week Press Conference. His body language and voice provided telling nuance.

Which was a lack of total confidence.

Jack has done a really good job. He’s got game experience. He’s played a lot of football. He wants to win. I think just with anybody, you got to get your quarterback to relax, you got to get them in a rhythm early. You have to get him feeling good about seeing things well, boosting his confidence, and getting them off to a good start. And if you do that, normally, things will carry over and the game will end the way you want. But you know what? Sometimes, it may not happen and you got to be able to adjust along the way. So I just think we’ve tried to prepare Jack as much as we can. He’s got to be smart and understand that if we get in a situation where we need some big plays, he can’t do it all himself. He’s got to get it to our playmakers, give the big plays a chance but know where the outlets are, be smart, use his feet, and not turn the ball over. So I just think it’s about becoming a solid experienced quarterback, and he’s battle-tested, and we feel confident he’ll play a good game.

After the Cal transfer’s opening half, it appears a legit read.

Other than his 16 yard scamper and going 3/3 on the Cards lone TD drive, he was . . . uh . . . sketchy. 8/17. 90 yards. A pick on his last toss, giving GT a shot at three at the halftime buzzer.

Which is not to mention that Brohm’s play calling was cautious. Not a normal character trait of his at Purdue and WKU.

That said, it wasn’t the offensive woes that did U of L in before the break.

Tech QB Haynes King had a similarly slow start.

Then the Ramblin’ Wreck made a few blocking tweaks, and U of L’s D looked like a block of Jarlsberg.

Georgia Tech marked 321 yards in the opening half. 206 by air. 115 over land, forty of those and two of their tallies by Trey Cooley, formerly a Louisville Cardinal. Five plays of 20+ yards.

Down 0-6, GT made it to the end zone twice in under three minutes.

U of L had its moment of 1st half glory to cut it to 13-14 on a six play 75 yard drive. TD pass to Jackson State transfer Kevin Coleman.

Then the Yellow Jackets got to paydirt twice in less than a minute and a half clock time.

It was an ignominious start.

But not the final storyline.

— c d kaplan